Adeline (Watty Awards Finalist 2013)

Hostage

Picture to the right is Sara

I locked eyes with Sara as Argo and Loki rushed below deck to wake the men. Her eyes said one thing; “I’m sorry” I turned away. She would not have my forgiveness. She knew how much the cure meant to Flynn, we all knew. He’d killed his brother over it. How could she even begin fathom that it would be okay to rob him of it? It would take a lot on her part for me to ever forgive such betrayal.

Flynn grabbed my hand and spun me around to face him, “I do not want you above deck when those beasts come Adeline” he said emotionlessly.

I frowned, “Then what am I to do? Stay below deck cowering? I am a pirate Flynn.”

Flynn cracked a smile, “Surely you are jesting? You do not even know how to wield a sword!” he said with a chuckle.

I snatched my hand out of his grasp, “I do too! Loki has taught me.”

Flynn rolled his eyes, “One lesson means nothing Adeline. When they arrive, stay below deck. I do not want to have to tell you again.” And with that he walked off to address the men of the crew and instruct them of the battle we were to have the next day.

I groaned and raked my hands through my hair. He was such a brute. Was I supposed to stay below deck like a helpless damsel? I knew in the fighting aspect of the battle, I’d be useless. But surely there was something I could be of help with.

I walked by Sara completely ignoring her. She stared at me like a lost child abandoned by its mother. I winced, immediately feeling bad for treating her so rudely. But I quickly discarded the thought. She was a liar with an ulterior motive; to steal the cure from Flynn.

I loved Sara like a sister, but she was trying to take away the one thing the man I loved really cared about. He wanted a normal life, granted so did she, but he had spent years working towards it. I once again felt like slapping her, all traces of guilt evaporated.  The only victim in this situation was Argo for falling in love with a trickster.

I walked below deck to go in search of something to eat while I thought hard on how I could be of help during the battle. I pushed all thoughts of Sara and her betrayals to the back of my mind. Just as I was making my way to the kitchen, I caught sight of Loki walking out of Flynn’s room.

“Loki!” I called out quickly.

He turned around in surprise and then his expression quickly turned to helplessness when laying his eyes on me. I inwardly winced, he could feel weird towards me all he wanted, we were going to talk about what Argo had said above deck.

He made his way over to me as slow as possible, “Yeah Adeline?”

I reached out at touched his arm, “Can we talk about…you know…what was said?” I asked gracelessly.

He looked like it was the last thing he wanted to do in the world, but he nodded nonetheless. He signaled for me to follow him to the kitchen. I complied.

We entered the kitchen silently, neither of us wanting to be the first to break the silence. I sat down on my meager cot while he leaned onto the small table in the room. I cleared my throat, and picked at my finger nails.

I silently berated myself for asking him to talk and putting us both in this situation. Why couldn’t I just completely ignore what Argo had said and left it all alone? Oh yeah because I was a fool.

“Listen Addie, I don’t want you to think anything will be different between us. It’s just a silly infatuation. I’ll be over it by next week most probably.” He said quickly trying to reassure me.